What are the main causes of high unemployment in Zimbabwe? How serious a problem is it? Will land resettlement and HIV-AIDS ease or worsen the situation? Give reasons.

Introduction: The unemployment rate is the proportion of the economically active population that is unemployed and actively looking for employment. In 1990, Zimbabwe embarked on a programme of Economic Reforms popularly known as Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) and 1991-1992 saw one of the worst droughts. With close to 70% of the population living in the rural areas (CSO 1992) and dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, this constituted a major disaster. One result of these events was …

…actively involved the reduction of unemployment. Without this combined effort and commitment, unemployment is likely to continue rising since the economic conditions are worsening and it is becoming more difficult for the companies that had survived before to continue surviving. If things are left unattended to as they at the moment, unemployment will grow to be a self-created time-bomb for the government and will eventually build enough pressure in it to force it to explode.